A lone candle flickered in the quiet room. A man’s restrained voice broke the silence.

“Will you not regret this?”

Those were Ruben’s first words as he hesitated, his hand still on the doorknob behind him. Serena knew he was being considerate of her. But right now, none of that meant anything to her.

“I won’t regret it.”

Perhaps it was the man’s silver mask, gleaming especially brightly tonight, that had given her courage. Or perhaps it was the people singing merrily in their drunken revelry.

Beyond their increasingly ragged breaths, songs heralding the height of the festival drifted in from far away.

“Even now, you need only say the word, and I’ll leave.”

He hoped she would say she hadn’t meant it, that it had been a mistake—that she wanted him to leave.

And yet…

“I want this. This is what I want.”

As if urging him to stop hesitating at the door, she voiced her true feelings twice. Only then did her face grow hot, but that was all.

Serena wanted Ruben.

Her status and position were shackles, little more than burdens. Her pitiful life had never befitted them, and she was destined to become the Flora of a crown prince she had never even met.

She had tried citing countless reasons for wanting to escape it all. But when it came to spending this night with Ruben, they were all hollow excuses.

Click.

The sound of the door closing echoed through the stillness. Despite her resolve, her heart lurched. That utterly ordinary gesture left her breathless.

At the sound of his steady footsteps approaching, her chest rose and fell beyond her control.

When Ruben came to a stop right before her, her wildly racing heart went still as though it had never stirred. Rational thought deserted her, along with everything else that kept her alive and moving.

Even though she was the one who had invited him in.

Serena had gone so rigid it was almost absurd. She steadied her breathing, trying to conceal her nervous trembling. But whatever courage she had possessed moments ago had vanished, leaving her mouth dry.

She knew she had already set foot on a path from which there was no turning back. Yet she had no intention of retreating. Gazing into his burning red eyes, she pushed her fear aside.

If she burned this night away without a trace, as fiercely as Ruben’s eyes burned, this trembling would disappear too.

“I want to be with you.”

But he did not readily take Serena into his arms. He merely gazed down at her, his eyes more still than silence itself. He was still hesitating. So she needed to summon even greater courage.

Serena raised a hand and removed the pin securing her hair. Her golden locks tumbled loose, swaying softly. At the same time, the long veil she had worn for the festival fell to the floor.

Watching his wavering eyes, she tugged at the cord fastening the front of her dress. The tightly tied knot came undone with ease.

With hands that trembled as much as his gaze, she drew the neckline down from both shoulders. The thin fabric slowly slipped down her body.

At that moment, Ruben seized both her arm and her slipping dress. With the fabric caught just below her collarbones, his voice fell over her, searing with intensity.

“Are you certain you won’t regret this?”

“I’m telling you, I want you. I want you to hold me…”

Before she could finish, he caught Serena’s face in both hands. An instant later, his hot lips engulfed hers.

She could say no more. Gone was the man who had hesitated and asked again, trying to protect her until the very last moment.

The night was dark.

Only a single candle and the moon shed any light, but she could feel his heat unmistakably.

It was more intense than she had imagined. His hands were urgent as they pushed her back without hesitation. She all but fell onto the bed.

Ruben moved over her, caging her between his arms. He gazed down at the flower whose petals he would scatter into disarray.

His burning passion made Serena feel as though her whole body would go up in flames. Hoping to cool herself even a little, she reached for the mask with its cold gleam.

“May I see your face, just once?”

Could he be the man from her dreams? She did not know why the thought came to her.

Even if she saw his face, she would have no way of knowing. He appeared in her dreams with a different face and a different name each time.

“It would be better if you didn’t. For both our sakes, Princess.”

He had as much to hide as she did. Despite his gentle tone, his hand was rough as he caught hers where it caressed his mask. The gaze he cast down at her grew hotter still.

Her delicate nape, which even her long hair could not conceal. The snowy skin revealed between the folds of her disheveled clothes. And her small body, trembling and squirming despite having been the first to draw him close.

Everything about her inflamed Ruben. He felt he would go mad unless he had her. As the patience he had barely clung to finally ran out, he slowly lowered himself toward her.

They drew close enough for him to see the exquisite curve of each of her eyelashes.

Serena filled Ruben’s vision, more beautiful than anyone else. His gaze alone could never hope to capture all her dazzling radiance.

Her quivering lips and the floral scent of her breath. Her flushed cheeks and shimmering green eyes.

She was so lovely that he was almost afraid to touch her. When she slipped her arms around his neck, warmth spread across his nape.

An irresistible desire erupted. He etched his longing into every inch of Serena’s body, sending thirst coursing through her seething veins.

Their breathing grew increasingly ragged, their beautiful silhouettes fitting together without a sliver of space between them. They craved each other, holding one another captive without end.

And so they hid themselves in the deepening shadows of the night, wishing for the heat surrounding them to entwine.

But just then, a faint light began to spill from the small, flame-shaped birthmark near Serena’s right shoulder blade. It stretched outward as though searching for a path.

Lost in each other, neither of them noticed. The slender thread of light seeped into the left side of Ruben’s chest, and a mark identical to Serena’s appeared on his skin.

She had never known she would ask him, the leader of a band of thieves, to spend a night with her. Never known this man would enter a life she had endured only because she could not die.

Even this night with Ruben would have been unimaginable just two months ago.

Those days had been hell.

* * *

The sun rose over the Kingdom of Roberta, heralding the coming spring. Yet the late winter remained bitterly cold.

Especially for Serena.

“Vermin princess.”

Serena’s hand faltered as she scrubbed the floor of the vast hall. Their venomous words cut into her more sharply than the wind seeping through her threadbare skirt.

“She’s shamelessly tenacious. A princess one day and a lowly criminal the next, yet she still clings to that miserable life instead of dying.”

“She takes after her mother. There’s a cruel streak in her.”

“Well, she wouldn’t even be alive now if the late queen hadn’t killed herself.”

Once again, Serena was the object of the palace maids’ ridicule. It had become so routine that she scarcely felt anything anymore. But she could not stop the ache in her chest at the words “the late queen.”

‘My mother.’

Eight years ago, that poor woman had thrown herself from a high spire before the council could proclaim that her family had risen in rebellion. It had been a scheme orchestrated by the king and Natalia, the current queen, but that was all she could do.

“You must never show anyone the mark on your body. Go to the Jeremiah region. Find someone there named Noska Pamol. He will tell you about the mark… Perhaps he may even know how to avenge us and restore our house.”

Before taking her own life, the queen had passed on to her daughter the prophecy a monk had given her on the day Serena was born. In doing so, she had left Serena with a memory that could never be erased.

Even a queen could not escape the charge of high treason, and its punishment was hanging.

But by taking her own life, the queen had preserved her status and severed her ties to her family. Under the kingdom’s laws, she could not be held accountable for crimes her family committed after her death.

In the end, Serena’s mother had saved her life, but she had been left to bear another form of guilt by association: ridicule and persecution.

The memories she had struggled to forget began creeping back into her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again, banishing her thoughts as she rose to her feet.

Talking back would only earn her a beating. Avoiding them was her best option. But the people here would not leave her alone.

As Serena turned away with a basin of water and a rag, one of the maids shoved her hard from behind. With a crash, the basin and rag went tumbling across the floor.

In an instant, dirty water covered the ornate hall. But in the maids’ eyes, what sullied the pristine white marble most was Serena, sprawled on the floor.

To them, she was no better than filth.

As if to prove it, snickers and mocking remarks rose behind her.

Their blatant cruelty left her with nothing to do but laugh. A faint, incredulous chuckle escaped her as she sank back down and resumed scrubbing as though nothing had happened.

“She’s laughing? She needs another beating to knock some sense into her.”

“Leave her. I heard she’d gone mad, and it looks like the rumors were true. We’ll only make trouble for ourselves if we mess with that thing.”

“You’re right. It’s only fun if she reacts.”

The maids were convinced that the shock had turned Serena into a simpleton. Anyone who could grin after being treated like that was clearly out of her mind.

With nothing more to gain by staying, they each kicked the basin before filing out one by one.

At last, Serena was alone in the vast hall. Only then did her true feelings spill out.

“Just you wait. I’ll escape this palace somehow and find the person Mother told me about. Then I’ll put everything back where it belongs.”

As she vowed not to let such humiliation break her, she spotted someone rushing into the hall.

“Princess! What on earth happened here?”

It was Baroness Molly, Serena’s nanny. She was also the only person who still called her a princess.

“Please step aside. I’ll take care of this.”

“No. More importantly, what happened with what I asked you to do?”

“I’m afraid I still haven’t found anything.”

They had been using an information guild to search for Noska Pamol. But it seemed this attempt had failed as well.

“The Delmon district is the only part of the Jeremiah region left to search. We should hear good news from there soon.”

“Any other news?”

“It’s nothing important, but that scoundrel of a grand duke in the Hespero Empire is embroiled in yet another romantic scandal. This time, it’s with some countess, apparently. And the Carmen Bandits have plundered the nobility again.”

Baroness Molly clicked her tongue, wondering why tales of another country’s grand duke and bandits had caused such a stir all the way here. Then she shared one more piece of news.

“An official letter has arrived from the Hespero Empire. They wish to take a member of our royal family as the crown prince’s ‘Flora.’”

Serena, who had remained indifferent to every other piece of news, stopped scrubbing. At the same time, her eyes began to waver violently.

“Nanny, did you just say the Hespero Empire?”

“Yes. The Hespero Empire wishes to take a Flora for the crown prince…”

“I have to be the one to marry him!”